Interstates tie in liquor referendums

To give options to travelers

The latest trio of Northeast Georgia cities to approve liquor-by-the-drink sales have one major thing in common: an interstate highway.

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Pendergrass and Commerce lie within striking distance of Interstate 85 in Jackson County, while the city of Madison is located just a few miles from Interstate 20 in Morgan County. Voters in all three cities Tuesday approved liquor-by-the-drink referendums.

"One of the things that we have heard, particularly from out hotel/motel operators along Interstate 20, is they need a stronger mix (of restaurants) to pull the travelers off the interstate," said Ralph Vaughn, president of Madison-Morgan County Chamber of Commerce.

"When people are traveling ... they like to have more choices than just a fast-food restaurant," Vaughn added. "So, we're optimistic we will get more chain (and) sit-down restaurants because of having mixed-drink opportunities."

Two previous liquor-by-the-drink referendums were shot down by Madison city voters in 2000 and 1993, Vaughn said. This year's measure passed 358-269.

In Commerce, the vote was not nearly as close. The question passed with nearly 74 percent of the vote in favor of the sales. Similarly, Pendergrass residents overwhelmingly voted in favor of liquor sales Mondays through Saturdays - and even on Sundays, a separate ballot question that also passed.

But over the past decade, not all voters in Northeast Georgia have been quick to tap into liquor sales.

In 1996, Hart County voters defeated a liquor-by-the-drink referendum there. In 2002, voters in Oglethorpe and Oconee counties turned down referendums that would have paved the way for liquor-by-the-drink sales, marking at least the third time in each county the measure failed.

Also in 2002, voters in the city of Crawford voted down a liquor referendum, while residents in Auburn, located in eastern Barrow County between Interstate 85 and Georgia Highway 316, approved alcohol sales.

In promoting for the referendum this year, mayors Monk Tolbert of Pendergrass and Charles Hardy of Commerce have both pointed to the increased sales-tax revenue that they expect to follow liquor-by-the-drink sales. Now that restaurants can sell mixed drinks, leaders hope to draw major chain restaurants to their cities.

"It probably would bring in a few dollars," Oglethorpe County Commission Chairman Robert Johnson concedes. "I think it would be a limited amount."

Just because a restaurant is in a city where residents approved liquor-by-the-drink doesn't mean it will change its business. Huck's Cafe in Commerce, for example, has no plans to sell liquor, said Mary Pittman, the restaurant's assistant manager.

"We're trying to stay family-oriented," Pittman said, adding that "with the clientele we have coming in, I don't think it's going to hurt our business at all."

City officials in Madison, Commerce and Pendergrass hope to cash in on the liquor sales. However, a somewhat similar measure Comer City Council members approved about two years ago seemingly had no affect on the town.

Today, no restaurants sell beer and wine, though they can, and no one is pushing liquor-by-the-drink sales in the city, officials say.

In passing the measure, Comer council members placed several safeguards - including prohibiting nude dancing where alcoholic beverages are served - aimed at keeping bars out of town.

At the March 29 Pendergrass City Council meeting, residents will be able to comment on a proposed ordinance regulating liquor sales.

Similarly, Commerce City Council will be drafting its own liquor ordinance.

"Only restaurants will be allowed to have mixed drinks," Vaughn said of the Madison statute. "With that kind of policing, combined with the fact that it will be highly scrutinized, I don't see it as being a negative in any way.

"In respect to those who are concerned about mixed drinks, in candor, people don't go to restaurants to get intoxicated," Vaughn said. "It's a misnomer. People go to restaurants for a nice meal and many choose to have a cocktail with their meal."